Ask HN: What are the best unique Mac apps?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2695566

by maguay • 15 years ago

11 20 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Mac users: what unique Mac-only apps do you use that couldn't be had on Windows? What apps with unique innovations do you see in Mac apps that you're not seeing on other platforms? I'm doing a bit of research for an article idea...

I'd asked this on Twitter earlier, and got some nice feedback, including Kaleidoscope, BBEdit, Courier, Reeder, MarsEdit, Acorn/Pixelmator, NvAlt, Fantastical, Sparrow, Versions, Adium, and Coda.

Thoughts?

dylanrw• 15 years ago

Textmate, although there are a few apps in the win env. that try (E-TextEditor is great). Quicksilver/Launchbar - This is a biggy, I used to use Enso by Aza Raskin back in the day before I switched.

Ultimately it was these two programs that did it for me. Those and a terminal.

tobylane• 15 years ago

CloudApp, Growl, Adium, Seashore and Fuzzyclock? Just simplicity. Ignore iTunes for your article.

octopus• 15 years ago

Two more examples for you:

Xcode, TextMate.

Adium is actually a clone of Pidgin, Pidgin can be used on Windows and Linux, so this is not a good example of a Mac only application.

xuki• 15 years ago

Adium Is actually very different from Pidgin. I mean the core is based on Pidgin but the UI makes it unique and more useable (IMO).

eps• 15 years ago

Yeah, Pidgin on Windows is an usability joke.

eekfuh• 15 years ago

SubethaEdit

Terminal (jk)

Travis• 15 years ago

What do you use as a replacement for terminal? It was freezing my comp for 2-3 seconds when I'd switch spaces, so I moved to iterm2, and it's not great...

I'd like to see something that does a better job allowing me to distinguish sessions to different servers (diff background colors, etc.)

there• 15 years ago

i just use x11.app and run a bunch of xterms in a tiled window manager (ratpoison). as for colored windows for servers, see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2089389

ricg• 15 years ago

Just released DesktopShelves http://kitestack.com/desktopshelves (my own app)

Also take a look at Skitch.

ApolloRising• 15 years ago

This looks fantastic - Downloading now

juanipis2• 15 years ago

can't reply to the thread, so i'll just post here.

http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/ cathode is a beautiful mac only app that makes my windows based officemates real envious

and i also have an app of my own that dont have a windows equivalent: http://twitjustice.org

veyron• 15 years ago

I'm surprised no one pointed out Growl. There's GNotify for linux but it's nowhere near as polished.

And in the growl package, there's an extra called growlnotify, which lets you pipe data from processes and show the output in growl form. I use this extensively.

alain94040• 15 years ago

Don't forget the obvious ones: iMovie, iPhoto. Yes, Apple makes them, but if you ever had to support a Windows user and figure out where their pictures are, you'll love iPhoto.

Someone• 15 years ago

Compared to Excel, Numbers has many disadvantages:

- fewer features - cannot handle huge spreadsheets - slower

, but it feels so much better. In particular, allowing multiple cell grids on a sheet and allowing users to name columns and rows are good ideas (I know it was done before, but AFAIK, nobody is shipping that at the moment). It also helps that it takes effort to have it make ugly charts (Excel has improved here, but it is as if it doesn't dare commit to a design choice for fear of losing some customers)

ianterrell• 15 years ago

Alfred! http://www.alfredapp.com/

It's the natural successor to Quicksilver. When I had to work on Windows boxes, I never could find a replacement that felt anywhere near as good.

mcrider• 15 years ago

Sequel Pro -- Awesome free MySQL manager for mac. Transmit -- Great FTP client.

ajtaylor• 15 years ago

Thanks for the pointer. My new $job uses mysql and Sequel Pro looks like a great mysql tool. Bonus points for being open source!

pogos• 15 years ago

Logic Studio. There is Cubase on Windows that comes close in functionality but is nowhere as intuitive and easy to use.

runjake• 15 years ago

Notational Velocity. There are Windows clones, but they suck really bad.

Really, with the Mac, it's the frameworks.

Acorn and Pixelmator are great and all, but I think that Paint.NET on Windows matches or exceeds them.

Ask HN: What are the best unique Mac apps?

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